Transition

Concentration of CO2 in the Atmosphere

“Loch Ness Hydro Plant Plans May Bring Hundreds of Jobs and Power Hundreds of Thousands of Homes” • Ambitious plans for an underground hydro plant at Loch Ness, opposite the iconic Urquhart Castle, are going to the Highland Council. The Red John Pumped Storage Hydro Project would have a generating capacity of 400 MW. [Press and Journal]

Urquhart Castle (Photo: Sandy McCook)

“The Doom of Fossil Fuel Investments” • There is very little time to get out of pure-play oil and gas company investments without substantial losses. It is already too late to get out of pure-play coal company investments without substantial losses. Utility companies with heavy reliance on fossil fuels are also in trouble. Here is why. [CleanTechnica]

“Hope Is Rational – Germany’s Radical Shift to Renewables and Efficiency” • Fossil fuels lobbyists might deny it, but the world is now heading towards a complete decarbonization of the energy system. It might seem daunting or even impossible, but recent innovations and megatrends may make it possible to keep global warming below 2°C. [RenewEconomy]

“How Ohio can Capture $25 Billion Worth of Clean Energy Growth” • Ohio risks missing out on roughly $25 billion in investments and 20,000 new jobs over the next two decades if state officials don’t take steps soon to expand clean energy, new analysis by Synapse Energy Economics of Cambridge, Massachusetts shows. [Energy News Network]

“BHP Introduces Mine Rehabilitation, Safety Efforts to Local Regions” • BHP, in making health and safety a priority, has joined forces with Rocky Mountain Institute and Pattern Development to repurpose closed mine sites for renewable energy production in New Mexico and Arizona. The sites are to be developed for PVs and energy storage. [SafeToWork]

“Climate Change and Wildfires – How Do We Know if There Is a Link?” • Global warming does not start wildfires. The proximate cause of wildfires may be human carelessness, or it may be a natural event, such as “dry lightning” from a storm that produces little rain. But global warming does increase the risk of wildfires and makes them worse. [WFAE]

The Camp fire in Northern California (Cal Fire)

“California Wildfires: Trump Visits State’s Deadliest Blaze” • President Donald Trump went to California to survey the most destructive and deadliest wildfire in the its history. He said it had not changed his point of view on climate change, adding, “I want great climate and we’re going to have that and we’re going to have forests that are very safe.” [BBC]

“Habitat Loss Threatens All Our Futures, World Leaders Warned” • Since 1970 humanity has wiped out 60% of mammals, birds, fish and reptiles, according to the latest Living Planet Report by WWF, which has warned that the loss of wildlife was now an emergency that is threatening our civilisation. The decline in all life is calamitous. [The Guardian]

“The Remote Arctic Town That Is Melting Away” • As the Arctic loses ice at dramatic rates, people in Qaanaaq, the northernmost town in Greenland, are finding their homes, livelihoods, customs and very survival at risk. The town is built on permafrost, which was stable in the past, but now the permafrost is melting. (Photo gallery) [BBC]

“Offshore Wind Energy Cable Base Planned for New England” • Subsea power provider JDR Cable Systems and McAllister Towing and Transportation Co, Inc are planning to develop a cable service base in the northeast US to serve the emerging offshore wind energy industry. The facility would include an integrated cable training center. [WorkBoat]

“Volkswagen Converting Zwickau Automotive Plant to Produce Electric Vehicles” • In a move that it believes is the first of its kind in the world for a major car factory, VW is converting its auto factory in Zwickau, Germany from internal combustion vehicle production to manufacture of electric vehicles. The plant makes 330,000 cars per year. [CleanTechnica]

Robots in the VW Zwickau plant

“Renewable Energy to Enhance Food Security Across World” • Adoption of renewable energy will help ensure food security across the globe, a top official of the International Renewable Energy Agency said. Many developing countries lose 30% to 40% of agricultural harvests due to lack of storage and processing facilities in rural areas. [gulfnews.com]

“As Trump’s Tariffs Raise the Cost of Solar Installations, Elon Musk and Tesla Cut Their Prices” • Tesla, unmoved by tariffs, is reducing prices on its solar systems 10–20% in recognition of the progress it has made streamlining its solar sales process by integrating Tesla Energy products into its existing high-traffic storefronts. [Red, Green, and Blue]

“Trump Says He’ll Nominate Andrew Wheeler to Head the EPA” • President Trump said he intends to nominate Andrew R Wheeler to be EPA administrator. A former coal lobbyist, Wheeler has already been instrumental in major environmental policy rollbacks, including former President Obama’s Clean Power Plan. [New York Times]

“Entergy Arkansas Inks Deal with Sierra Club, Others to Shutter Aging Coal, Natural Gas Plants” • Entergy Arkansas signed a historic agreement with the Sierra Club and other environmental groups to shutter the utility’s old coal-fired plants and an aging natural gas facility, and replace them with cleaner power options. [talkbusiness.net]

“Developers Propose Adding Additional 350 MW of Offshore Wind Power” • Rhode Island has tripled the state’s supply of renewable energy in the last two years on the way to a 1,000-MW goal, according to Gov Gina Raimondo. Now, developers answering a call for proposals on offshore windpower have entered bids for as much as 350 MW. [newportri.com]

Block Island wind farm (Associated Press file photo)

“America’s Wind Farms Are Ready to Go It Alone” • For a quarter-century, the wind industry has been supported by federal tax credits that helped it attract investments of $250 billion. That support ends next year, but analysts and executives say the credits have done what they were supposed to do: make the industry competitive. [BloombergQuint]

“US Energy Firm AES Commits to 70% Carbon Reduction in Climate Scenario Report” • AES, one of the world’s largest power companies, has released a report detailing the company’s moves to reduce carbon emissions 70% by 2030. The report also makes projections on the environmental and energy transition impacts of the move. [pv magazine International]

“At UN Climate Talks, Trump Team Plans Sideshow on Coal” • The Trump administration is planning to set up a side-event promoting fossil fuels at the annual UN climate talks next month, repeating a strategy that infuriated global-warming activists during last year’s talks, according to three people with knowledge of the matter. [CNBC]

“Innovator Tempus Energy Successfully Challenges Fossil Fuel Bias in UK Power Market” • A ruling by the European Court has decided that £5.6 billion in subsidies for fossil fuels, paid for by British taxpayers, is unlawful, in a case brought by cleantech innovation company Tempus Energy against the government of the UK. [Renewable Energy Magazine]

“Remote Scottish Island Uses Ultracaps, Flywheels in Hybrid Microgrid to Go (Almost) 100% Renewable” • The remote Isle of Eigg, one of the Scottish Inner Hebrides, is now host to a hybrid microgrid which incorporates flywheels and ultracapacitors for high power functions as well as solar, batteries, wind, and diesel backup. [Energy Storage News]

“California Invests in ‘By Location’ Distributed Energy Resources” • California leads the US with several pilot projects to reward rooftop solar energy generators and other distributed energy resources in specific locations as an alternative to having utilities meet needs by investing in upgrading their electricity generation networks. [CleanTechnica]

“BNEF Confirms US Coal on Track for Record Capacity Decline” • Energy research giant Bloomberg New Energy Finance confirmed that US coal plant retirements are nearing an all-time high, with at least 16 GW of coal-fired plants already retired in 2018, and a further 37 GW is expected to be retired in the US market by 2025. [CleanTechnica]

“Renewable Energy Market to Garner $2,152 Billion by 2025, Reveals Report” • According to a report published by Allied Market Research, renewables industries will very likely result in an impressive growth for the entire market. It projects the global renewable energy market is to reach in excess of $2,152 billion by 2025. [Interesting Engineering]

“CPUC Report Shows Utilities Are Ahead of Renewable Energy Goals” • The California Public Utilities Commission said that its Renewables Portfolio Standard program, one of the country’s most ambitious, is ahead of target and helping to drive down renewable contract prices. California’s target is 100% renewable power by 2045. [Windpower Engineering]

“Scottish Wind Delivers Equivalent of 98% of Country’s October Electricity Demand” • New figures publicized by WWF Scotland on Monday revealed that wind energy generated the equivalent of 98% of the country’s electricity demand in October, or enough electricity to power nearly 5 million homes across the country. [CleanTechnica]

“Gloomy Prospects in IEA’s Latest World Energy Outlook” • None of the scenarios in the latest International Energy Agency World Energy Outlook show renewables growing fast enough to meet global climate goals. Under current policies, said the IEA, the world would see major increases in energy-related carbon emissions. [Greentech Media]

“Energy Storage Is a $1.2 Trillion Investment Opportunity Globally and Is Soaring in the UK” • Bloomberg New Energy Finance predicts that the world energy storage market will attract $1.2 trillion in investment and grow to 942 GW by 2040, while in the UK the current pipeline already sits at an impressive 6,874 MW. [CleanTechnica]

“Big Oil Spent Only 1.3% of Capital Expenditure on Green Energy in 2018” • The world’s largest oil companies spent just 1.3% of their annual budgets on climate change initiatives, a report found. Environmental research charity CDP studied the top 24 publicly listed firms, including oil giants Royal Dutch Shell, Total and BP. [The New Economy]

“Rising Seas Threaten Hundreds of Thousands of Homes as Building Continues in At-Risk Areas” • Some 386,000 US homes are likely to be at risk of regular flooding by 2050 because of sea-level rise from climate change, under a scenario of unchecked greenhouse gas emissions, according to analysis by Zillow and Climate Central. [MarketWatch]

“Clean Energy Is Surging, but Not Fast Enough to Solve Global Warming” • Over the next two decades, the world’s energy system will undergo a huge transformation. But there’s a catch: The global march toward clean energy still isn’t happening fast enough to avoid dangerous global warming, the International Energy Agency warns. [WRAL.com]

Pollution

“Whoo-Hoo! Lazard’s Levelized Cost of Energy Version 12.0 Is Here!” • Way ahead of the time fossil fuels were to be stranded assets due to climate change, the plants that are using them are rapidly becoming stranded assets themselves, because of renewable competition. Fossil fuels will have no market. Neither will nuclear fuel. [CleanTechnica]

“Elon Musk Slams Climate Skeptics amid California Fires: ‘It Will Get Worse'” • Elon Musk criticized climate change skeptics on Twitter, as wildfires spreading across California led to outcry from scientists. He said in his tweets, “Betting that science is wrong & oil companies are right is the dumbest experiment in history by far.” [Inverse]

“Coal Dumped as IEA Turns to Wind and Solar to Solve Climate Challenge” • One of the most conservative energy institutions, the International Energy Agency, has effectively abandoned the thermal coal industry, saying coal generation has to be drastically scaled down for the world to have any hope of addressing climate change. [RenewEconomy]

“US Realtor Eyes Offshore Hub” • US real estate developer Commercial Development Company wants to reposition a former Massachusetts coal-burning power plant as a logistics port, manufacturing hub and support centre for the offshore wind energy sector. It has been renamed as the Brayton Point Commerce Center. [reNEWS]

“Climate Change Helped Make California a Tinder Box for its Record-Setting Wildfires” • Camp Fire, which is devastating Sierra Nevada foothills, has become the most destructive wildfire in California’s history. By the evening of November 10, it had scorched 105,000 acres of land and killed 23 people, with more than 100 people still unaccounted for. [Quartz]

“Smart Battery System Saves more than $2,000 a Year on Electricity Bills” • Power bills will fall by more than A$2,000 ($1,440) per year for owners of a new smart battery system. Systems like those from PowerPlay identify times of household off-peak electricity use. They can choose to store power or sell it to the grid. [Energy Matters]

“Coal Loses Again as US Military Pushes Clean Power Envelope” • An Association of Defense Communities report provides evidence that cities and states can help US military facilities become more resilient and secure, simply by adopting stronger clean power policies that apply to the civilian world – in other words, by ditching coal. [CleanTechnica]

“Faroes to Fly Minesto Tidal Kite” • Swedish tidal developer Minesto secured an agreement to supply two 100-kW devices to Faroe Islands power utility SEV by 2020. Installation of the first DG100 unit is planned for late 2019 or early 2020, with the second device to be installed in 2020. SEV committed to buy the electricity generated. [reNEWS]

“Sustainable Architecture: The Beauty behind Energy-Efficient Buildings” • Creating buildings with the lowest possible carbon emissions, while still being aesthetically pleasing, is a challenge that is being addressed. Here are some of our favorite sustainable architectural projects, found in Shanghai, Paris, Dhaka, and Barcelona. [CleanTechnica]

Forêt Blanche, to be built near Paris

“Wins by Democratic Attorneys General Threaten to Multiply Climate Suits against Big Oil” • Democrats scored a string of state attorney general victories on election night, ousting some loyal oil and gas allies and threatening to add to mounting lawsuits against the industry over climate change. The party flipped four states. [HuffPost]

“Hurricane-Broken Air Power Base Has an Alternative to Rebuild for Resilience” • Rebuilding the hurricane-wrecked Tyndall Air Force Base in Florida will come with a massive price tag, but experts say it offers a chance to make the base more resilient to the effects of extreme weather. Hurricane Michael hit Tyndall as a Category 4 storm. [Infosurhoy]

“New Wind May Be Cheaper than Old, Reliable Coal” • Wind farms have cost less to build and operate than coal-fired power plants for some time. The trend of lower costs for renewables has crossed a threshold: it is sometimes cheaper to build a brand new wind facility than keep an old coal plant burning, according to Lazard Ltd. [Casper Star-Tribune Online]

“What Changes Will Maine’s New Government Bring to Your Life?” • Swept to sizable majorities in last week’s elections, Maine’s Democrats will be in full control of state government for the first time since 2010. They are likely to look for ways to address a number of pressing issues, one of which is climate change. [Kennebec Journal & Morning Sentinel]